Lone drinkers - Has kegging been worth it?

[seatazzz]

Kegging all the way. I don't always want a full pint, and with my kegerator I can have up to 3 different beers on tap at once. Storing bottles can also be a hassle, if you don't have room in the fridge for them. With kegging, I can pull a small glass of anything I want, and don't waste any. Or I can pull pints when the muse strikes me. Or fill growlers and bottles for friends. Fresher beer, you control the carbonation (takes practice), and perfectly chilled beer.

 

[moreb33rplz]

If you can justify a 10 gallon conical, you can get a couple kegs

 

[Snuffy]

Bottling is a PitA for sure. I usually split a batch into half kegged and half bottled. The one thing I have noticed is that the kegged beer doesn't mature the same way the bottled beer does. It ages out a little but It's relatively static compared to bottle conditioned. It's pretty cool to dig out a bottle you haven't had in a while and notice how it has improved and changed since the last time you tried it. And the head on a bottle conditioned beer is a bit better to me.

 

[ChiknNutz]

I am it in this household (for beer that is), but quickly grew to despise bottling, so spent the considerable funds to be able to keg. To me, time and effort that don't go into bottling are worth it to me. So far have only kegged one batch, but have another in the fermenter.

 

[AzOr]

My wife and I both drink beer but not excessive. Probably less than 8-10 beers for both of us but I’m still a firm believer in kegging. We give away much more than we drink. If I were still bottling, I’d be going through bottles like crazy and not seeing them again.
Now I fill neighbors growlers and don’t worry about bottle management.

Last year I did buy a couple of 3 gallon kegs but like I said I don’t mind giving beer away to friend or neighbors so I’m still doing mostly 5g batches.

 

[TwistedGray]

Definitely, if I had a tank. Someday, perhaps.

Wait for those 5lb tanks to go on sale again; I found out about them here ($35, if my memory is correct). You can start kegging for less than $100 : )

 

[acrowe]

I think its totally worthwhile. I used to brew a lot and bottle, which meant having over 200 full bottles and a bunch more emptied bottles. I had bought some flip top, which wasn't cheap and bought lots of beer in 750ml and 1L bottles to use for bottling. That was more pleasant than buying bottles. When I moved back to Canada from Chicago after grad school I had 72 full bottles in the uhaul, along with 2 dogs and 2 cats and a ton of houseplants. I opened the door and pointed it out to the border officials to be sure it wasn't an issue, they didn't want to know. I used to like having all those bottles to offer friends a good selection. Kegging is so much easier than bottling. People always enjoy getting themselves a beer from the keg/taps, and a large part of my enjoyment is social. I have a combined office space and rec room, one of my best buddies made a real habit of dropping by after he finished work for a half pint before heading home (he is in no way a freeloader).
I have moved across the country from Manitoba to Vancouver Island in a town where I don't know many people and Covid 19 has made it hard to meet new people (I am dying to have some BBQs etc.). I just got my kegerator setup going again and have a cider and a beer on. I am basically the only one drinking it now, I really like beer but I enjoy a beer with people. I still think kegging is worthwhile and agree that flexible serving size is one of the benefits. It can go both ways, not having the empties stacking up sometimes means the quantity consumed can sneak up on you, especially if you are inclined to to top up. I think bottling is cheaper but I won't go back.

 

[Snuffy]

Yeah - it's a lot more fun to drink with company. I moved an hour away from most of my drinking pals and then had lots more time to brew. The beer kinda stacks up after a while when you're drinking alone cause the wife might drink 12 Mich Ultras a year. That's kind of why I've cut back to half batches and 3-gal kits when I can find em.

 

[verboten]

Yes

 

[Gruel]

Besides the bottle collecting, cleaning, filling and carbonating issues, kegs also make storage so much easier. I built my own small cooling system that can take care of an insulated keg and a fermenter at the same time. No need to use up all that fridge space for bottles.

 

[ChiknNutz]

I like being able to pull as much as want. My first of the night just a little bit ago was likely a 20 oz. pour of stout I brewed a couple weeks ago. Usually it's less, but this time it was nice to fill up the chilled mug and not deal with the bottles or a partial fill from a single bottle. Also like how easy it is to go from fermenter to keg since I now do closed transfers. A side benefit from my setup is also do spunding so purge my keg and naturally carbonate simultaneously. Honestly though, first world issues we are discussing

 

[cfrazier77]

I am in the same boat, as are many others. One of the things I like about kegging is that I can drink the amount that I want. It does not have to be in 12 ounce incraments. I will pull 6 ounces of a RIS and then 16 of a bitter.